The institution estimates the first response to the corona crisis at 97,000 million euros
The Court of Auditors yesterday issued its favorable opinion on the expenditure made by the government to cope with the pandemic, with a cost that amounted to EUR 96,838 million in 2020.
Of that total amount, 68,090 million correspond to obligations recognized by the General State Administration and 28,748 million to social and labor market assistance, referred to the social security, SEPE, Fogasa or Muface. Among them, unemployment benefits from the ERTE (13,644 million), the exemptions from quotas of companies covered by these instruments (5,567 million) and the benefits for cessation of the activity of the self-employed (4,917 million) stand out .
The social security balance, the Court found, has accumulated negative assets for the fourth consecutive year, estimated at 68,049 million in 2020. That year, the state made loans to the General Treasury of Social Security for 30,330 million, raising the debt burden to 85,351 million. In this sense, the Court of Auditors calls under its recommendations for urgent action to be taken to reduce these figures.
The institution also noted some incidents that occurred during the period, such as the underestimation of provisions for future expenditure that the State may have to bear. Among them, the ICO guarantees stand out, which are calculated at 4,260 million and that “had they been calculated with other parameters, there would have been an increase of 1,074 million euros”.
Similarly, and as stated in the document, the understatement of at least 400 million has been identified in the provision for tax refunds, for the state-guaranteed debt in Sareb or for derivative responsibilities and for the responsibilities derived from court rulings, with an undervaluation calculated at 1,365 million.
In the Statement on the General Account of the State for the year 2020, the Court of Audit also warns against a number of caveats that need to be corrected. This included a mismatch in the consolidated budget result, with 2.008 million being overvalued due to an incorrect temporary allocation of liabilities and rights. Thus, budgetary expenditure and income are observed which should have been allocated in 2020 and which will be allocated in successive years and, on the contrary, obligations and entitlements which, corresponding to 2019, have been allocated in 2020.
Source: La Verdad
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